We will create real guarantees to ensure that Belgium shall not become a Franco-British vassal and shall not be used as a military and economic high … - Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg

Should they be confirmed, we would be forced to take countermeasures against our will. Even today we try to localize the conflict and keep peace in Europe. We therefore ask Sir Edward Grey to use his influence in Petersburg in this direction.

My last speech before the assembled Reichstag on December 12, 1916, concerned the proposal of Germany and her Allies to enter into peace negotiations Our action found a lively echo in the neutral countries. But in the enemy countries the stubborn war lust of their rulers was stronger than the cry of the nations for peace. Our enemies alone bear the enormous guilt for the continued bloodshed. It was they who rejected the hand of understanding.

Germany and England have undertaken all steps to avoid a European war. ... [W]e have lost control and the landslide has begun, As a political leader I am not abandoning my hope and my attempts to keep the peace as long as my démarche in Vienna has not been rejected.